Following a verdict in November that ordered groups of real estate companies and the National Association of Realtors to pay damages totaling $1.78 billion, Marty Green spoke with American City Business Journals on the possible impact of the ruling on similar cases. Green and Peter Idziak also discussed the state of the housing market and the current outlook on homebuying.
Speaking on a series of lawsuits against the National Association of Realtors, Green noted that “they (NAR) will settle this on a more global basis. The class gets expanded and the claims get resolved, and that’s what you are going to see with the remaining defendants and the NAR.”
Green added: “There is no clear outcome where they win. All it takes is losing one of these, and it’s monumental at this point.”
Commenting on the state of the housing market since 2008, Green and Idziak highlighted the challenges faced by those seeking to buy homes in the current market. Green noted, “You have this obsolescence that is starting to accelerate. A lot of those homes have to be gentrified or razed.”
The necessity of improvement – or demolition – to homes has caused a shortage in housing inventory, leading to higher prices putting potential buyers in a difficult situation. “Even if they can get somehow into a home they can make the monthly payment on, they can’t make enough to save for a down payment. By the time they save that amount, prices have increased and they need even more money — so they are almost always behind,” said Idziak.
Green and Idziak’s comments were included in the following articles: